Our small intimate group all piled into one car and hit the trail at about 9 a.m. On the drive over though, the clouds seemed to follow us to the trail head as if they wanted to join the hike. The temperature was in the low 70’s at the start, but humid. We started the hike with high hopes of the clouds dispersing just as we summit so we could see those beautiful views of the White’s and the Green Mountains. About .5 miles into the hike the rain came to cool us off as we had started working up quite a sweat on this typical “straight up the mountain” kind of trail. Trigger desperately tried to seek refuge under heavy foliage, since she apparently didn’t appreciate the reprieve the heavy rains offered.

We saw a few eastern newts in the red eft stage on the trail and found quite the humor in making eft jokes. During the red eft stage, the eft is fairly conspicuous, yet other animals seldom bother it because its skin glands produce irritating secretions. What the eft?

Once we hit the summit, the clouds briefly dispersed so we got a “peek-a-boo” look back at Camel’s Hump. We enjoyed a quick lunch, and carefully descended the slippery wet rocks back to the trail head. Once we got back in the car, we made a field trip to the new visitor center in Waterbury Center.

Participants: Miguel Bosse, Ryan Bean, Taylor Christie, Trigger and Kelley Mackison (Leader)